THE owner of a Malvern boutique called ISIS is astonished at terrorist slurs.

Jill Campbell is dumbfounded she has to assure people the shop is not linked to Islamic State fanatics ISIS, after rumours started on social media.

She says herself and staff members have been subject to “ridiculous and ill-advised” comments from passers-by linking the shop with the terrorist group behind the beheading of journalists and aid-workers, which is also referred to as IS.

Ms Campbell said: “This is happening thousands of miles away, and yet my business in Malvern is being targeted, it’s bizarre.

“I can’t believe I have to do this, but I want to make it clear I do not in any way, nor does this business, have any affiliation with, or support for, this vile terrorist group in the Middle East.

“It’s been going on for the last couple of months now. Two or three times a week passer-by will make ridiculous and ill-advised comments to us in the shop about being involved in terrorism.

“It has also filtered onto social media, and we are having to monitor our Twitter account and ask to have tweets removed that are suggesting we are linked to terrorism. It’s the power of social media that has caused this to spread wildly. For the first time ever, I was on the first page of Google at one point, which was nice, but it’s just getting ridiculous now.

“I’m sure most people in the town know the truth, it’s just a few making idiotic comments.”

Ms Campbell says she feels she has to protect her Great Malvern-based business now that it has gone on for so long.

“Even though it’s absurd, I do unfortunately feel I have to protect my business.

“I was thinking of opening a second shop in the Cotswolds, but with this going on, I’m considering whether to put it on hold now, which is a real shame.

“People are telling me I should change the name of the business, but why should I? We’ve been here for seven years, we were called ISIS before all of this, and the name represents our business.

“This has not affected business too much thankfully.

“Our loyal customers have stayed with us and customer levels have remained steady. I can’t know if potential new customers have been put off visiting us though.”